The present invention relates to supports and more particularly to supports of the type commonly referred to a saw horse.
Material supports have been used for many years in conjunction with construction work. Material supports have been used as platforms on which wooden boards are placed while they are sawed, planed, painted and the like. One type of material support used at construction sites is referred to as saw horses. This type of support generally includes a pair of leg supports disposed at each end of a horizontal support. In the past reusable saw horses have been bulky and difficult to transport from one job site to another. For this reason saw horses have often been constructed on the site and destroyed after the construction is completed.
There has long been a need for a portable, collapsible saw horse. There have been many unsuccessful attempts in the past to provide a suitable portable collapsible saw horse. Prior collapsible saw horses have been complex, lacking in strength and often difficult to put up and take down.
The present invention provides a very simple collapsible saw horse that is compact when disassembled. The present saw horse is strong and sturdy in use. The present saw horse is so durable that it can be used for many years in at a series of industrial construction sites.
The present saw horse may be used on construction work in the same manner as prior saw horses. The saw horse of the present invention also may be used as a barricade such as are used on streets, highways and parking lots.
The present invention may be constructed of metal. The present material support device, e.g., saw horse, includes a pair of leg supports that may be easily attached and detached from a horizontal support member, e.g., a timber such as a 2xc3x974, without nails, screws or any fastener. The present saw horse leg supports include a tubular upper member which is integral with a pair of downwardly and laterally extending legs.
The tubular upper member may be of any desired shape in conformation with the shape of the horizontal support member, e.g., rectangular in shape for use with 2xc3x974s. The opening of the tube faces in a direction aligned with the horizontal support which is perpendicular to the plane that extends from one leg to the other leg. The tubular member has an opening that snugly receives the horizontal member such as a piece of timber, i.e., construction lumber such as a 2xc3x974, a 2xc3x976 or a 4xc3x974.
The tubular member has sufficient length that the timber is snugly held and thereby providing stability such that the leg support is prevented from pivoting with respect to the timber. Typically the tubular member may be two or three inches in axial length. The wall thickness of the tubular member is sufficient to provide the necessary strength during use on the construction site. Typically the thickness of walls of the tubular member will be {fraction (1/16)}th inch to xe2x85x9cth inch. The tubular member may be cut from conventional tubular stock, such as rectangular tube stock. In some instances more than one tubular member may be provided in a vertical arrangement on each support leg, for example to serve as a barricade.
The horizontal member may be of any desired cross sectional shape such as rectangular. It is desirable that the horizontal member is construction lumber such as 2xc3x974s or 2xc3x976s.